Outstanding Evolutionary Psychologist: 120th Anniversary of the N.A. Tikh Birth

Nina Aleksandrovna Tikh (1905–1983), an evolutionary, comparative psychologist, occupies a special place in the history of the Petersburg school. Her classical studies are inscribed in the history of the Petersburg school, the founder of which was Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev. Designing and implementing complex studies of man, V.M. Bekhterev, and after him B.G. Ananiev, fundamentally included comparative, evolutionary psychology in their research programs. The principle of development is unshakable in the Petersburg psychological school. Accordingly, here they study man in ontogenesis and on the social lifepath, phylogenesis and in connection with the history of society. In the Petersburg school, comparative psychology was presented in research, in the pedagogical process and in institutions. N.A. Tikh studied the problem of the origin of man and consciousness for many years, conducted comparative studies on infants and young monkeys development, she studied the herd life of primates as the prehistory of human society. The works of N.A. Tikh are a significant contribution not only to domestic, but also to world comparative, evolutionary psychology. This important fundamental scientific discipline is currently preserved in the St. Petersburg psychological school only as an academic subject. The name of N.A. Tikh is little known to the modern reader. The purpose of the article is to briefly describe and evaluate the research and achievements of N.A. Tikh in the field of evolutionary, comparative psychology, zoo psychology, anthropology in the context of the St. Petersburg psychological school history and its future.